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Ok I'll bring it up just for you...can I quote YOUR name??
Don't kid yourselves, this board isn't that anonymous.
It's not really "earning". It's doing the time as an FO at SWA vs being acquired and integrated by SWA...poor choice of words...
Yeah, I wasn't sure about the individual tax part.You might be correct about the company having to amend prior years' financials; I don't know for sure. But you're incorrect about individuals--income is taxed the year it was paid, regardless of the year it was earned. That applies to all individual income. Retro would end up being a lump sum to us, presumidly paid and taxed to us in 2015. Or 2016, if it takes that long.
I get what retro pay is. The question becomes, why did the company drag it's feet and is there anything that pilots can do to maybe nudge the company in lifting it's feet and maybe walk at a brisker pace towards a contract. Maybe you and I differ on what that may be. At FedEx, the company typically drags it's feet until the general pilot population gets fed up enough to individually decide that they are fed up with the company's shenanigans and to maybe not pick up an extra trip or take the draft trip when offered. Then schedules start falling apart, freight gets left on ramps, and the company has a more difficult time getting pilots to pick up the phone.Retro should be paid for actual work in the name of basic fairness. It represents all pilots getting paid for their individual work efforts at the rates they should have been getting all along, in the years we didn't have a contract simply because the company dragged its feet.
I'm curious to see if the retro/bonus SWA pays you guys in this contract comes close to making each individual whole for the trips they flew at the rate they should have flown them. I'm guessing they're going to throw you guys a chunk of change all tell SWAPA "divvy it up as you see fit." I could be wrong, though. It's happened before.Why should I, a "regular line" worker (averaging 100-ish TFPs/month), or anyone else not working overtime "to spend more time with their families," get paid part of the salary earned by another pilot who worked harder than me/them? (maybe if they weren't working so hard, you wouldn't need a retro check) Also, why should a pilot who only averages 50 TFPs (say he/she has a rich spouse, and gives away a lot) get some of the money that -I- actually earned? (maybe to reward them for possibly moving talks along to get a TA quicker) Again, it's basic fairness.
Companies with CBAs that have gone beyond amenable dates pay retro when a contract is reached, as a disincentive to stalling, or slow-rolling negotiations; this way they pay all the money they would have if contractual raises had gone into effect on time. In all actuality, they should really pay calculated retro plus interest, as there's still a smaller incentive to stall, in the time-value of the workers' money they held for that period. Interest would make sure that neither the company benefitted, not the workers lost any money, for the delay. However, that never happens. Retro itself is generally thought of as making the workers "whole."
My other point was that the company can call it a "bonus" if they want (if it makes their financials easier, for instance), as long as they pay all the calculated money that each pilot earned while they stalled. That way, each pilot is made "whole," and the company has one less incentive to stall in future negotiations.
Bubba